Northside Shrub Border

This is my 'Northside Shrub Border' beginning when you come out of our back gate and heading east into the bend to the long part. It is a truly mixed border and is one of the longest gardens in my yard. It is about 100' long and 11' feet wide, not including the bent parts at either end of it. It borders the northside of my property and is somewhat shady because of neighboring trees both to the north and south of it. It is extremely dry to a tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). If anyone reading this grows these trees, be prepared for a battle in the garden. I do not grow this tree, it is my neighbors, but I might as well as much as it loves my yard. The roots are fibrous and suck ALL moisture from the ground. Then it drops leaves prematurely and is basically an all around problem tree for me, though I do admit it is beautiful in the right spot.

Here is another view of the border looking toward the east. I generally don't like pictures with shadows and light patterns, but this one looks so awesome with the sun coming through and hitting a bit of the mist. This border is about four years old. I hand dug every bit of it. Its original intent was to form a backdrop and privacy screen on this side of the yard. Of course, like all gardeners and their gardens, it evolved into much more. In addition to the numerous shrubs (Variegated Privet, Silverberry, Viburnums, Photinia, Mock Orange, Hydrangea Tardiva, Red Twig Dogwood, Chaste trees, Burning Bush, Blueberries, and a Foster Holly), there are multiple bulbs and perennials, both herbaceous and woody.

I thought the border would never fill in. Here it is above looking toward the west and my backyard. My theory when building this garden was to plant perennials repetitively. I did not have a ton of plants to start with, so I would plant maybe one daylily every ten feet, right next to it would be a small group of coneflowers, shasta daisies and so on. I intended to divide the groups every year until I had a huge display of each perennial at regular intervals. Well, that has happened, but along the way something else has happened. There is no distinct plan and cohesiveness for this garden. It is very full and fairly colorful and the colors even match well, but not in a manner I am happy with.

The last view of the northside shrub border is at the beginning of the bend from the roadside shrub border on the east end of the garden. This part of the garden is most dry and gets some pretty good sun. Yarrow, shasta daises, and daylillies comingle happily. I am trying to fit some more hardy souls in here; which will require much thought and digging.

I can see a garden renovation in the very near future (once we get rain). Almost everything will come out. I will leave the 'Powis Castle' Artemisia as it is a good blender and fairly uniformly placed. The shrubs will stay only because they are too big for me to successfully move, but all perennials are coming out. I intend to have the same plants, though in larger and fewer groups. Control is the word. Ha, this should be fun for me-the perennial collector of all things that grow. Where will I fit it all?

That is the crux of the matter. Reworking this garden is fairly simple, it is finding homes for the outcasts and odd plants that I just can't seem to part with. I can see a long week or two of work here in this garden. Sigh.

My whole point to this post is to try to practice some control in the garden. While I had a general idea of how to fill this bed, it did not work well for me. If I can help one person to keep from making the same mistake of not planning properly, and of not using control and restraint in the garden, it has been worth it all. I am sure next year's garden will be so much better....with maybe a bit more uniformity and control?

in the garden....